James Charles O'Neal Jr.'s Obituary
O’NEAL, JAMES CHARLES JR. Born November 4, 1925 in Burkburnett, TX and passed away July 30, 2008 in Plano, TX. Mr. O’Neal moved to Ft. Worth, TX at the age of seven. After attending Northside High School in Ft. Worth, he volunteered at the age of 18 and served in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1945. After returning from the war, he started Fiddle Inn in 1947 at Jasper Hwy. and White Settlement Road and Fiddle Inn #2 at 1010 Main Street in downtown Ft. Worth. Both clubs featured live country western bands and were the hottest spots in Ft. Worth. He sold the clubs and acquired a Cessna 140 airplane as a part of the deal. He, then, took off 2 years and in 1955 at the age of 35 went to work as a Ft. Worth Sales Representative for Marion Laboratories. Resigning from Marion Laboratories, he started SIG Labs in 1962 with a home office in Marshall, IL. He was President of SIG Labs from 1962-1968. In 1969, Revlon purchased the company through a stock for stock exchange, he moved to New York City as President of SIG Labs, Inc. for Revlon. In 1971, he started O’Neal, Jones & Feldman with Dennis Jones in St. Louis, MO. OJF went public in 1975. Mr. O’Neal retired in 1978, then moved to Dallas and purchased Trans Globe Travel and expanded to the travel agency to 5 locations. It was the largest privately owned travel agency in Dallas. He sold Trans Globe Travel in 1983 and formed and operated Deep Sands Oil, Inc. In 1984, he formed American Golf, Inc. to promote a 6 inch golf cup. He formed People for America, Inc. in 1992, a lobbyist organization to encourage Congress to increase import duties on product manufactured outside the United States. He loved playing golf, bridge, traveling, reading, collecting art (especially Asian antiques and the paintings of Omar ‘Salty’ Seaman of which he was the largest collector in the U.S.), and was known for the ‘O’Neal Salad’, and the ‘O’Neal #5’ hand lotion. His words to live by were represented in his famous poem, ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.’ He is survived by his loving wife, Jean; children, Brenda Lazenby and husband, Todd, James Charles O’Neal, III and wife Jen, Linda O’Neal Davis and husband, Jimmy, John O’Neal and wife, Susan, Ellen Dunn and husband, Lehmer, and Susan Rios and husband, Christopher; grandchildren, Lawrence, Kamrin, Jordan, Mara, James, Harper, Zachary, Sam, Megan and Thomas; sister, Beulah Johnson; brother, Ed Dicken and numerous nieces, nephews and friends. Visitation will be 6:00-8:00 PM, Friday, August 1, 2008 at Restland Funeral Home. Service will be held 10:00 AM, Saturday, August 2, 2008 in Restland Wildwood Chapel.
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